HOUSTON As Texas Children's Hospital braces for the upcoming flu season, parents are urged to schedule immunizations for at-risk youngsters and seek early treatment when symptoms are present.

"There is no reason to believe that the upcoming flu season will not be just as significant as those of the past three to four years," said Dr. Ralph D. Feigin, physician-in-chief of Texas Children's Hospital and professor and chairman of the department of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine.

"It's easy to take the flu for granted; however, it is a global public health threat a major cause of illness and death," added Dr. Gail Demmler, director of diagnostic virology at Texas Children's Hospital and professor of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine. "Flu is predictably unpredictable. We must constantly be vigilant."

The flu -- formally known as "influenza" -- is transmitted through contact with an infected person, through air droplets or contaminated items.

The virus produces a febrile respiratory tract illness that can lead to a primary viral pneumonia, which can be severe enough to result in hospitalization or require the use of a ventilator to breathe.

"In addition, some individuals can get a secondary bacterial infection such as an earache, bacterial pneumonia, or bloodstream infection (septicemia)," Feigin said.

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